Welcome, everyone, to my continued weekly review series for the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure! This week, we get to see the aftermath of the battle at the fortress. Let’s see what happened:
The Ultimate Digimon Attacks
This was, for all intents and purposes, an Orgemon episode. We did see some other points early on; namely that the Holy Digimon have been captured and the real world is referring to their current crisis as the ‘Metropolitan Power Loss Disaster’. The rest though was all Orgemon.
He started off the episode being admonished by Devimon, and this sent him into a rage. That led into him attacking the fortress himself and challenging Taichi and Agumon to a fight. He explained that losing his horn to Greymon meant losing his pride, and he wanted to fight to regain it.
So far, things have been very Digimon Adventure. Mostly in a good way too. This week, we’re meeting the last of the initial six Chosen Ones. So, let’s see how it went. Agumon evolved to Greymon and they started to fight but were soon interrupted by a mass of Coredramon. Gabumon initially evolved to Garurumon to deal with them, but they still managed to launch an assault at Taichi. Koshiro and Kabuterimon turned up just in time to make the save, but they were still outnumbered. Before the Coredramon could kill the kids though, Orgemon chased them away!
The villain then declared that the real match would now begin. From here, Orgemon and Greymon traded heavy blows until they were interrupted by the gigantic MetalTyrannomon. Somewhere far off in the distance, Devimon said, “let there be destruction…and death…” and the giant proceeded to stomp Orgemon into the ground.
Taichi’s Digivice lit up and he powered up Greymon’s attacks, but MetalTyrannomon swatted the hero with ease, reverting him to Agumon. Before he could kill them though, Orgemon rose to his feet and roared that he had been replaced. He fired off another heavy attack, this time intentionally cutting a path in the direction of the Holy Digimon, and told the kids to leave. He then powered up and charged MetalTyrannomon. They’re attacks collided and we ended the episode with a massive explosion.
The Ultimate Digimon Attacks: Thoughts
Okay, first things first, Digimon levels. In the West, the levels generally went In-Training, Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, Mega. In Japan though, the stages were Baby, Child, Adult, Perfect, Ultimate. While the subs are using the Japanese names for the characters, they’re using the Western levels. So, when MetalTyrannomon is referred to as an ‘Ultimate Level Digimon’ in this episode, he’s actually Western Ultimate/Japanese Perfect. Both Greymon and Orgemon are Adult/Champion level, so sit one level below this monster. [Note: Paragraph corrected because my memory of the evolution tree was off]
The design work on MetalTyrannomon is also worthy of note here, as he really does look quite menacing. And those missiles he fires? Pure body horror. Great stuff.
Now, the first big battle this week was, in my opinion, excellent. The early stages of it were clearly designed to bring Koshiro together with the others, but once Orgemon got series, the whole tone shifted. It really did look like he and Greymon were trying to kill each other. That was wonderful to see. I’m glad this all came around now as if this had landed in the 90s, I’m fairly sure it would have been heavily censored, if for no other reason than the kids being in so much clear danger of dying.
The arrival of MetalTyrannomon also gave rise to a darker tone, and you can feel that the kids are in real danger here. We know they won’t die, of course, but if you weren’t familiar with the original run, it may have tricked you. Orgemon getting a hero moment was also a nice touch, though I’m assuming this means we won’t see his rivalry with Leomon come into play.
The orchestral soundtrack really shone this week too. From the recap music to the heroic tune when Orgemon attacked his replacement, it actually feels really classy. With the animation being decent this week too, that makes for a strong aesthetic combo.
Oh, and I enjoyed the brief Digimon Encyclopedia at the start. It was all very ‘Who’s That Pokemon?’ but given Pikachu and chums borrowed the temporary Mega Evolution concept, it seems like a fair trade.
Overall, this was an exciting episode with nothing to really complain about. At a guess, I’d say we’re going to see MetalTyrannomon versus Metal Greymon next week, but we shall see.
But those are just my thoughts. What did you think of these episodes? Let me know in the comments below.
Previous Episode Reviews
- Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 1-3
- Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 4 and 5
- Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 6
- Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 7
- Digimon Adventure 2020 Episode 8
Matt Doyle Media 
“So, when DarkTyrannomon is referred to as an ‘Ultimate Level Digimon’ in this episode, he’s actually what we used to refer to as a ‘Mega’ in the old dubs.”
The Japanese word used for MetalTyrannomon’s level was Kanzentai (Perfect; literally “perfect body”).
While all the characters are going by their Japanese names, the subs are using the English names for the levels, just like the English on other recent Japanese sources.
MetalTyrannomon has also been around since 1998 but never had a big anime role, and he’s always been Perfect/Ultimate.
(And you accidentally called him DarkTyrannomon a couple of times, which is the name of a different Digimon.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re quite right, I’ll need to edit that when I’m back on the laptop. For some reason, I had it in my head that the evolution tree was Tyrannomon – DarkTyrannomon – MetalTyrannomon, but no, that’s a misremembering on my part. Whoops!
LikeLike